Safety device for holding dooks ajar



May 19, 1925.

H. E. SOREF SAFETY DEVICE FOR HOLDING noons AJAR Filed Dec. 8, 1922 WIT/V555 29. 23 ATTORNEYS.

Patented May 19, 1925.

HARRY n. sonnr; OFjMILWAUKEE, 'wrsbonsm snrnrrnnvron non nonnmcr nouns Ma n.

Apiplicat-idnfilefl- December 8,1922, Serial No, tosses.

To. all whom; it may'oonoemr u e it kno s th ts RR Seem, a

citizen cit-the United States, and a resident of the city of llliflwaukee, in the. county oi Milwai-ikee State of Wisconsin, have. invented certaln new and Lt$fLl l IHLp JE,-0Ve' mentsinSafety Devicesfor Holding Doors- Ajar; and I do decla 'ne'the lollowing tobe a clear, exact, and complete description ther-eofi such as will enable persons skilled inthe art to make and use the same, refersorrow of. their mothers.

enoe being had tothe. accompanying drawasyillustrating a simple construction in which my invention has been embodied.

It is often desirableto set a house door slightly ajar forpurposes ofventitation. At

the. same time it is very desirableythat an intruder be not permitted to take advantage of the slightly opened door, to gain an un-;

authorized admission intothe house. It is further desirable that when a door is set slightly aj ar it be anchored ina predeter: mined position, so) that children of irre sponsiblea-ge cannot openthe door and crawl trom the house, to, the distraction and. often enient and My invention resides in a, conv simple device, one part. of which s attached to the free. edge of the. door and the other to the abutting portion of thedoor casing, the

parts being Connected by a: detachable chain of definiteshort lengths, so that the door may be-moved only a limited distance away from. the door jamh, the distension of the chain when the slack thereof is, taken up,

' limiting such movement.

My invention, goes'farther in that it embodies provisions which require that the door he closed or substantially so before the holding chain, which is connected to one part, can be connected with the oth k The con: struction ofthe devices is such that the door must likewise be practicallyelosed before the holding devices can be disconnected so.

as to permit the door to heppened, I In. this latter provision lies the safeguard residing inmy invention which prevents any disconnection of'the chain from the outside, by reason oftheffact that the. door Inust-be so nearly closedthat neither the hHJIClzOf the intruder nor any instrument hel l thereby canrnanipulate the fastening so as to uncouple. the same. t The novel features of. In invention will now he specifically describe and pointed out it 1 in theappendedelaims.

1n the accompanying drawing Figure 1; is fa viewin elevation showing pen ses f -s an t sdi ent n with the safety devafees embodying, my in}, ventl on as in operative position.

Fig. 2 is a plan view partly in; section,

showing the same parts, 1 and: illustrating the degree to which the door must be moved to. closing position, in order to. permit discontraction of the safety devices.

Fig. 3 is alike- View showing the position of the door when partially opened position for purposes of ventilation, andshowing in dotted lines its closed position, with the hookv of; the fasten in 11.11 ins; secured in its ing' device as in a position of rest but active, 7 to prev n creams o the oo Wi ho t st s am P-s he, s me B 1g. 4L s a veptieal section through a jpor: he of he do rcas ns show ng how-th a e oo a chain y e ld b a upp men ary pr i o so ha the p rts will not be caught between the doorand easing when not applied to their intended use. y a

I e drawing, a port on f the r i indicated by the numeral lOiand a portion of the adjacentcasing against which it abuts by the nulneral 1-1. My invention comprises adevice which in its simplest forrnconsists of wm ne' 2, d p d. to he r t e do ca ing-9 h tampin ein -Pr vided with an eye or staple i3 1; one end of aohain 14:1lS attached. The free end of the chain has connected therewith'a hook 1.5., the peculiar construction and f unctions ogfwhich will be. laterdescribed. Thechain 14 constitutes a flexible connection between the. eye and hook 15.. t I

Attached to the doorin the horizontal plane of the part 12 is an adjunctive device 16, illustrated the present instanee as t mpi g. nd n ed t e u ed ne the edge 01% the door. In the staihpingoperedge of the door.

is returned to forma point 23 lying parallel with the portion 22, and separated therefrom sufficiently to permit the seating of the pin 20 in the space thus provided. I

With the door in its closed position the point 23 may be slipped into the depression in the plate 16 so as to seat the pin 20 at the bottom of the space provided by the re turn. hen the door is opened, the hook member will pivot about the pm 20, and be turned into the position indicated in Fig. 3, in which the-angular parts 15-22 will bear upon or lie closely adjacent the forward edge of the plate 16 and the front The opening movement of the door is thus limited by the length of the chain 14, and pressure'against the door willnot be upon the pin 20, but on the contrary will be taken up by the edge of the plate 16 upon which the angular extension 22 bears.

Many devices of the class to which the present invention relates may be discon nected bypassing the hand through the space betweenthe partially opened door'and the casing,'and thus unauthorized ingress to the house may be obtained. But with my invention any such disengagement of the fastening devices is impossible, for the reason that the hook member must be rotated about 180 before disconnection can be effected. In such rotation the hook member fulcrums upon the point of its connection with the free end of the chain, and with the latter distended, the door willmove toward its closing position. '-The'degree' of such movement necessary to enable the hook member to be disconnected from the pin supported by the plate 16, is indicated in Fig. 2. Manifestly it will be impossible therefore to disconnect the fastening by any one from'the outside.

When the occupants of the house close the door after passing out, the chain ordinarily would depend from the staple 13, leaving the hook free to swing and be caught between the edge of the door and the casing. To avoid this occurrence I provide means for holding the chain in a position so that the hoox thereon cannot be caught in the manner described. To effect this result, I turn the upper edge'of the plate outwardly asatQt, and provide therein a slot25, into which the point of the hook is adapted to be inserted asshown in Fig. 4

Although Ihave shown and described my invention in its simplest constructional form in which it occurs to me that it can bemanuf'acture'd, it is obvious that the invention may be embodied as a part of the lock construction, the casing of which will support the pin 20, and the keeper of which will support the staple 13, The invention may also be used in connection with a mortise lockorlatch, the hole 26' in the plate 16 poses which it is intended to fulfill. 'Any person from the outside who should attempt toeffect disconnection of the locking devices by stealth would be frustrated by the automatieclosing of the door in his efforts to effect such disconnection.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States, is:

'1. A safety device for securing a door in a partially opened position, comprising a part for attachment'to the door casing and a short flexible connection including a hook extending therefrom, 'a part for attachment to the door and provided with a retaining member adapted to'be'engaged or disengaged with the hook only when the door is substantially closed, the hook being rotated about its vertical axis to locked position by movement of the door away from the casing.

2. In a safety device for securing a door in a partially opened position, a plate for attachment to the door'casing. and a chain connected thereto with a hook at its free end, aplate for attachment to the door and provided with means for engagement by the hook to limit movement of the door, the said hook beingform'ed as-an angular member the sides of which are adapted toem brace the side and front edge of the door when the latter is moved to its partially opened position. v I

3. In a safety device for securing a door in a partially opened position. a platefor attachment to the inside of the door and supporting a pin, a plate forattachment to the door casing and a hook connected thereto,

ber the sides of which are adapted to em bracethe side and edge of the door when the door is moved to position, the point of the hook being returned to lie in parallelism with one side of'the angular member to form a space for the reception of the pin.

etj'Means constituting a safety device for holding a door slightly ajar, the saidmeans comprisingan attachment to the inside of the door and a pin supported thereon to provide a clearance underthe pin, an attachment to the door casing and a short chain with a hook thereon connected to said last mentioned attachment, said book being formed as an angularmember with its point returned and lying paralleltoone side there of, whereby the point of the hook may be entered in the clearance to embrac'ethe pin and Withdrawn therefrom only When the door is closed, the hook being rotated to locking position by movement of thedoor away from the casing.

In testimony whereofI have signed my name at Milwaukee, this 2201 day of Novem- W. F. WooLARn, WARREN G. WHEELER. 

